Hot, famous doughnuts to expand across the state

Local favorite Mr. Ronnie’s Famous Hot Donuts will be expanding throughout the state, a process that has been in the works for almost two and half years.

Jacob BatteStaff Writer

Local favorite Mr. Ronnie’s Famous Hot Donuts will be expanding throughout the state, a process that has been in the works for almost two and half years. Director of Franchise Development for Mr. Ronnie’s, Rocky McMillian, said the first new shop will be in Baton Rouge, and they hope to open it up in the next few months. The second shop will be in Lafourche Parish by late February or early March. McMillian said the franchisee in Lafourche has yet to decide if he wants to open his Mr. Ronnie’s in Mathews or in Galliano.“He has a contract for two units; he’s just trying to determine which one he wants to do first,” McMillian told the Lafourche Parish Council at the Sept. 24 meeting. General Manager Wendy Picou said she’s glad some of the early franchisees are local. “We’re just trying to make sure we dot our I’s and cross our T’s to make sure we train our franchisees properly and give them all of the support that they need to become a success as well,” she said. McMillian said a strategic analysis wasn’t completed on potential locations, because most places were no-brainers. “The competition level out there is minimal,” McMillian said. At the Lafourche Parish Council meeting, McMillian said Mr. Ronnie’s will unveil 10 new locations in the next year. Though McMillian said the company isn’t ready to reveal other locations, he said there has been interest in Lafayette, Hammond, Mandeville, Alexandria and Patterson as well as out-of-state interest as well. Picou said the amount of interest, especially in out-of-state locations like North Dakota, Colorado and North Carolina, has taken her by surprise. Exactly when and where the company expands will be determined by the success of the new chains. “It’s called clustering; we’re going to try to cluster our expansion. First we’re going to start with southeast Louisiana. Then we’ll go north, then west or east, whatever the branches bring in,” McMillian said.When the Picou Family started Mr. Ronnie’s, they had no idea it would become as popular as it has, Wendy Picou said. “Our goal was just to provide the best doughnuts that we could make for our community,” she said. Ronnie and Linda Picou bought a Tasty Donut franchise from Al Copeland in 1976, not knowing that the Ronnie’s name would become synonymous with hot glazed doughnuts at any hour and “Mr. Ronnie Burgers” in the bayou region. The couple sold the franchise eight years later but were hounded by requests for “Mr. Ronnies hot doughnuts,” or “Mr. Ronnie’s famous doughnuts,” Wendy Picou said. Picou said that led the family to open up its own store in March of 1994, “named by the people over the course of ten years stating how they missed dad’s famous hot doughnuts.” As the Houma-based store has increased in popularity, customers from outside of Louisiana have asked for a Mr. Ronnie’s in their hometowns. Picou said the family considered franchising the company, but was always overwhelmed by the process and returned to running the local store. Picou credits McMillian for finally getting the process of expanding started. McMillian has led the charge of preparing the business for franchising, laying the groundwork for the expansion and working with potential franchisees. The process has been hectic, Picou said. “Not only are we in the franchising part of it and moving that forward, but we still have a 24/7 business to run,” she said.Picou said their family attended a three-day seminar on franchising, after agreeing to work with Francorp. Upon finishing the third day of the seminar, Picou said she and her family were wondering if they had a made a mistake. “Before we do anything we pray about it first and we were just saying, ‘Lord, did we just make a big mistake?’ ” Picou said. Shortly after, Picou said she got on Facebook to pass the time and the first thing that popped her on newsfeed was an artist rendering of Jesus breaking a round piece of bread with what appeared to be a hole in the middle. “Come on, man, that’s a doughnut that he just took a bite out of,” Picou laughed. “I had never seen this picture before, and even my mom was behind me asking if it was a doughnut. Now we’re in this full force.” Picou said they want to feature their future franchisees, helping to put the spotlight on the new chains. “We took a leap of faith, and here we are,” she said. “We’re learning a lot, and we’re doing our best to move forward and do exactly that, which was our original goal to bring our donuts to as many people as we can.” Staff Writer Jacob Batte can be reached at 448-7635 or jacob.batte@dailycomet.com. Follow him on Twitter @ja_batte